Thread: Ben Stein on Beck Yesterday - Anybody See it?

Just curious. If you did, you would have caught a couple of real 'nuggets' of wisdom that came out in the interview.

Very interesting guy - trained economist, later speechwriter, turned actor/comedian, etc.... you can't predict that kind of career path, I swear.

Let me go chase down some parts of the hour long interview and post 'em back. I think some folks might be interested in what he had to say.

Partial excerpt from :
http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/ ... gb.01.html


GLENN BECK

Ben Stein Profiled

Aired May 2, 2008 - 19:00:00 ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


BEN STEIN, FILMMAKER: Tonight, from Yale valedictorian, presidential speech writer to game show host, Ben Stein has done it all. Starting out as an attorney with his electric personality, he`s worked for Presidents Nixon and Ford and has appeared in numerous commercials, TV shows and movies.
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STEIN: Bueller? Bueller?

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STEIN: Now he`s got one of his own, "Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed." It`s an incredible new documentary that blows the lid off education`s obsession with Darwinism. He joins me for the full hour. Wait a minute, that`s me. Why am I reading this? Isn`t this Glenn`s job? Hello, Beck. Beck? Anyone? Anyone?

BECK: Joining me now, actor, writer, lawyer, economist, author, documentary filmmaker of the brand new hit "Expelled, No Intelligence Allowed," the one and only Ben Stein.

STEIN: Honored to be here.
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(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEIN: It makes you want to vomit that we have people in Iraq and Afghanistan laying down their lives for a just, lawful, compassionate America, and here at home, the looters are running wild. That just makes me sick, and I think there should be a stop to it.

It disappoints me very much that Mr. Bush, whom I like very much, is not taking major steps to reform the bankruptcy process so that people cannot put a company into bankruptcy, destroy the lives of the employees, and then walk off with hundreds of millions of dollars in stock.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BECK: Back with Ben Stein, author, comedian, documentary filmmaker of "Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed."

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BECK: OK, Mr. Columbia and Yale.

STEIN: I stand corrected.

BECK: The falling dollar, oil...

STEIN: There`s no end in sight. No end in sight for the falling dollar.

BECK: That`s not good.

STEIN: No, it is not good at all.

BECK: Every 1 percent that the dollar falls, oil goes up $4 a barrel.

STEIN: I don`t think it`s quite that much.

BECK: Yes, that`s according to OPEC today. IT came out -- or this week it came out.

STEIN: Well, that doesn`t seem possible, because $4 a barrel is a lot more than 1 percent of the price of oil per barrel. I could see it going up, say, $2 a barrel, but $4 seems far-fetched.

BECK: That`s crazy. Really, that`s the number from OPEC. I mean, you`re probably right.

STEIN: But wait. No matter how much it goes up, the incredibly high gas and gasoline and diesel prices are the flip side of the falling dollar. The falling dollar is caused by our enormous trade deficits and our enormous federal budget deficit. We have got to get federal spending under control, and we`ve got to get some handle on the foreign trade deficit. Otherwise it`s just a bottomless pit.

BECK: But there`s nobody going to do it.

STEIN: No, there`s nobody going to do it.

BECK: I mean, John McCain is a nightmare. And you`ve got -- you`ve got Hillary, a double nightmare. And Obama is...

STEIN: Quadruple.

BECK: Oh, my gosh.

STEIN: Yes, it`s a big problem. There`s no constituency for responsible budgetary policy anymore, none at all in Washington.

When they did the stimulus package, that was really a joke. And I have to say that I think that congressman from Texas who was running for president -- what was the guy? I`m blanking on his name. A very smart guy.

BECK: No, not Richardson.

STEIN: Ron Paul. He made such a brilliant comment. He said, we`re going to borrow $160 billion from China, use the money to buy toys in China, and then owe China $160 billion, and that will be our stimulus package.

BECK: Yes. Well now we`re -- it gets even better. We`re borrowing money from China, paying the interest, and then giving it to the American people, spending $40 million to send out notices that you`re getting a check, then giving that money to OPEC.

STEIN: Yes. Well, OPEC, or to China for toys or electronics or something.

No, it doesn`t work. It`s not a good idea. And it`s a trivial amount of total purchasing power. It doesn`t really matter much.

BECK: You know, here`s the amazing thing, Ben, is I think we`re -- we are a nation that is -- we`re on a suicide path.

STEIN: We`re on a suicide path. But I`m hoping that at some point it will change. And anyway, it`s a very slow suicide. It will be a problem really for your grandchildren, not for you.

BECK: You know what? I have to tell you -- here`s the arrogance. We said in the 1940s everybody has to buy our products.

STEIN: Right.

BECK: Because we make the best. We have all the steel. We have everything. Then we got sloppy and Japan took over, and we lost our steel and our factories.

STEIN: Right.

BECK: Then we said, in our arrogance, the world needs us because we have all the spending. Well, we`ve racked up debt. And at the same time -- I mean, I don`t know if you`ve been into a store lately and had an experience of some of the Americans that we`re pumping out that won`t do any work.

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BECK: Don`t talk down to me.

So, you know, they`re just feed me, feed me, feed me.

STEIN: Yes.

BECK: And then there`s the other side that I feel is a growing number of Americans who have done their part, they`ve worked hard. They bust their butt. They`re just trying to feed their family, keep their family safe. They`re becoming more and more disenfranchised.

STEIN: I agree. They have no one to speak for them.

Look, Wall Street has everybody to speak up for them and all they do basically is loot. Not all they do, but a large part of what they do is loot.

All the big industries have lobbyists. Agriculture has lobbyists. Poor people have lobbyists. The ordinary guy basically has nobody speaking up for him, guy or gal.

BECK: So then what happens?

STEIN: Those people get more and more disenfranchised, more and more alienated, disillusioned. And then eventually they get angry and they demand substantial change. And that`s when we really have problems.

BECK: I guess we`re there without really standing up. I keep saying to all the people in Washington, every politician I talk to, do you hear the American people? Because they`re saying to you in a polite fashion...

STEIN: Yes.

BECK: ... right now without the pitchforks and the torches.

STEIN: Right.

BECK: And if you don`t -- it`s the Declaration of Independence. Stop injuring us.

STEIN: Yes. Stand up for America. Stand up for not indenturing our children to China and to Saudi Arabia. Stand up for protecting us from terrorism. Stand up for paying the military decently. Stand up for paying policeman and teachers decently.

And don`t just make apologies for people who are screwing up this society.

BECK: Is there anybody out there that you think gets it?

STEIN: Not on the political scene, not at all. Nobody. None. Not at all.

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(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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END

Watched the whole show . Just great the Stein owns up to everything with a certain degree of "Thats Life" attitude .
I used to watch Beat Ben Stein .I Never did
I really liked his views on politics

BECK: Is there anybody out there that you think gets it?

STEIN: Not on the political scene, not at all. Nobody. None. Not at all.

Well what about Ron Paul whom he just praised?? I certainly think HE's someone!

Originally Posted by Anna-Anna

BECK: Is there anybody out there that you think gets it?

STEIN: Not on the political scene, not at all. Nobody. None. Not at all.

Well what about Ron Paul whom he just praised?? I certainly think HE's someone!

Good come back . Fiat money , Ron knows and understands it . Our officals living a great life off a broke nations back , he knows it . The totally lack of accountaibly by poiliticians , he can't stand . You'll find no secrect dirt on Paul . The Elites do fear that , No blackmail
just 2 of my 3 cents fwiw